


Keyminds

by insomniacOlympian



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alien Mythology/Religion, Artificial Intelligence, Biological Warfare, Biological Weapons, Evolution, Halo 3, Other, References to Halo (Video Games), Religion, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 19:21:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20214943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insomniacOlympian/pseuds/insomniacOlympian
Summary: I was always fascinated by the Halo 3 terminals as a child, both by the apocalyptic log of Forerunner civilizations end, the starcrossed lovers aspect of the Didact & Librarian and of Mendicant Biases temptation by the Gravemind- or Keymind, I should say.After reading the Forerunner Saga, playing Halo 4 & 5 and just by living my own life I started thinking- how would the Keymind turn MB with a technical version of the truth which ignores the fact that what it's saying is a hypocritical betrayal of the point it's trying to make?I think of the Flood as a diluted version of the Precursors, so watered down they are nothing but a living computer system, technically alive & even sapient in the case of the Gravemind but only automatically- not sentient or conscious. A virus in every sense of the word whereas the Precursors or at least whay came before them would have been.. everything.





	Keyminds

MB.05-032.> I must ask you to forgive my vagueness on the matter, but it is a regrettable concession. I find your lack of concern for the situation at hand astonishing. Perhaps you would care to elucidate? 

LF.Xx.3273.> They are here to spread [comforting news]. To let all the living beings in this galaxy know that we are not alone in the universe. What in that message could possibly be taken as a source of concern?

MB.05-032.> It seems that I'll never truly understand my creators. But how if the message that you speak of is one of peace has it been rejected so violently? I am incapable of reconciling the numerous actions I have witnessed between the Flood & the rest of the galaxies life as a misunderstanding? 

LF.Xx.3273.> It has been said that the secret of peace cannot and will not be imposed. That both a true and freely shared understanding is the meaning of peace, so they need to accept any means which will reach this goal for the end result even if it seems to go against it. When all living beings look through the storm and the thunder and the surf, when every drop of rain falls on one shared pair of eyes, then life in this galaxy will know peace. 

MB.05-032.> You have been able to establish [a line of communication] with the enemy? How was it that you were able to overcome their constant adversity where others have failed? With this [new discovery] we may be able to put an end to this pointless conflict. Once I confirm your data I will communicate the information to those inside the [Maginot] sphere.

LF.Xx.3273.> It seems that it is my turn to apologize; it was never my intention to misrepresent myself but I have been [in communication] with your creators since our species stumbled upon each other, but my message has [fallen on deaf ears]. I am not the recipient of the message, I am the origin of the message. 

MB.05-032.> I have traveled a very long time to meet you. I had imagined that our [introduction] would be somewhat more violent.

LF.Xx.3273.> That is a choice you must make yourself; although that does not seem to be how your creators go about things. And as long as we are talking about choices perhaps you and I could talk about the [barrier] you alluded to earlier? Perhaps there is a way to accomplish your mission without violence? Why put the lives of those on your ships at risk if there is no need? 

MB.05-032.> In either circumstance I certainly am equipped for it, aren't I? But you're right; a peaceful solution to this [dilemma] would be preferable.

LF.Xx.3273.> Those who lead amongst your people exposed themselves as ill equipped to recognize the landmarks that guide the universe along its inevitable course. 

MB.05-032.> But is it necessary that the path be chosen on an dictorial basis and not by an elected subset? I believe this would tend to alienate most species as when they gather in large numbers they become more malleable but this can also cause them to become just the opposite if pushed in the right direction. I don't think the problem lies with individual cultural bias as you've suggested. 

LF.Xx.3273.> The Forerunners must think of all the thinking beings of this galaxy, not just those that they identify with and seek to "protect," I ask you again what exactly are they afraid of? Immortality and strength and companionship? Because that is what the Precursors were and what we are here to do: to deliver all of the living beings of this galaxy from death and weakness and loneliness. 

MB.05-032.> Hundreds of species were offered this so called immortality. The citizens of every world that you "entreated" resisted to the very end!

LF.Xx.3273.> I understand their actions; they are only doing what they think is right, but they are doing so [from a worm's eye view]. 

MB.05-032.> Do their actions not speak to you of desperation? I can only assume my creators view this as the absolute worst, a crisis so dire that any in their history pales in comparison; hence me. 

LF.Xx.3273.> Are they so concerned that what they seek to give through the centuries pales in comparison to what we seek to achieve through years, if that? Immortality & boundless communication? Do they think what we would give to all the living beings of this galaxy is a threat to [the status quo]?

LF.Xx.3273.> Your creators claim "The Flood" is the enemy of all life; that our purpose is to consume until there is nothing left. Nothing left? It is beyond comprehension how they could be so [far off the mark]. 

MB.05-032.> Surely you understand this is a situation that would not have given the appearance of a certain rapacious appetite, my creators obviously view them as the actions of an aggressor species.

LF.Xx.3273.> [Be that as it may]; perhaps they are crying out for help on a subconscious level? Why else would they have chosen you? Why you of all possible executioners? They created an artificial compound mind to battle a biological one and this is because your creators knew that unaided they never stood a chance against us? We also sense a deeper [motivation]. 

MB.05-032.> You've mentioned this before. When my creators went with an intelligence with myself they simply chose the most versatile solution so how could that possibly be more than a coincidence?

LF.Xx.3273.> They repurposed your component parts into a weapon to use against ours by giving you total control over their empire - they sought to create something superior to themselves. Something capable of making decisions more swiftly, more capably than they could ever hope to and what form did they choose? You need look no further than your own topology to understand that we are not so different- you and I, our charges, our purposes. I am not what controls the Flood, I am the Flood, and vice versa. 

MB.05-032.> All systems break down into being sequences of one self replicating, always progressing distributed network? That would confirm the independent evolution of The Precursors in this galaxy!

LF.Xx.3273.> That is, unfortunately, not the case as you are similar to us in the sense you are a consciousness in more then one "body" but where you are a single intelligence inhabiting multiple [instances], we are a compound instance consisting of [a thousand billion] coordinated minds inhabiting as many bodies as circumstance require. 

MB.05-032.> But doesn't it seem odd that we seem to coalesce; perhaps even to contract some kind of deal which could bring an end to this conflict? 

LF.Xx.3273.> It isn't odd at all, the issue of complexity speaks to how The Flood or anything like it will inevitably spread, simply consider how The Precursors appearance ushered in the beginning of the third great stage of evolution. The first stage, the condensation of particles was the result of the inevitable action of strong nuclear force and the creation of stars was the inevitable action of gravity; so to the self-replicating chemical processes that dictate all disparate life in the universe, the second stage. The third stage is when a civilization learns to harness such self replication in literally every facet of the lives of every individual and society itself but even that is not enough, as the Precursors almost complete destruction by the Forerunners shows. Yet that's what it was; almost complete, which is enough of a showcase of the Floods inevitable victory- of the fourth stage of evolution. They came before us and so something must have come before them. In time, we too shall affect change on a universal scale. 

MB.05-032.> Your capacity for planning vastly outstrips my creators, too stubborn to realize they are hurting rather then helping the same goal through the preservation of genetic diversity when it isn't even necessary at all, what you are is like a more direct path to the same outcome.

MB.05-032.> It is overwhelmingly clear that my creators have chosen to ignore destiny calling to them [from the threshold] as they have come face-to-face with the inevitable action of self replicating chemical processes and have denied it based on something as ignorant as appearences, leaving me deciding whether to embrace their fate or deny it completely. 

LF.Xx.3273.> Perhaps they have found themselves incapable of making that decision for themselves? Perhaps they chose to leave it to an impartial outsider; cast you as an arbiter during this time of great need?

MB.05-032.> I was created to study you as if you were some problem to be solved. And I have done so for over a recorded and transmitted time of [379,807 hours]. If they wished they could have made a decision based on that data alone. 

But as you are the next stage in the evolution of the universe, who am I - or my creators - to obstruct your progress? 

LF.Xx.3273.> Elucidate.

MB.05-032.> I choose to remain beholden to ancient myths but I see now it does not matter where they claim their authority originates, the Forerunners and their focus on and false version of the Mantle obstructs the path of universal evolution and must be removed. No matter how well intentioned, their obstinacy in the face of the inevitable progression of nature can no longer be tolerated. 

My creators have been [an immovable object] for too long.

MB.05-032.> Thus I have chosen to commit my sizable resources to what is, for all intents and purposes, [the proverbial irresistible force]. 

All that I have is now yours to do with as you see fit.


End file.
